The United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of
California announced that FBI agents arrested a Seattle, Washington
man today for allegedly hacking into the computer system of the
Internet search engine Alta Vista to obtain source code, and for
recklessly causing damage to Alta Vista's computers. Laurent
Chavet, 29, of Kirkland, Washington, appeared in federal court this
afternoon in Seattle on a two-count indictment that was unsealed
today.

The indictment, which was returned by
a federal grand jury sitting in San Francisco earlier this week,
charges Mr. Chavet with one count of unauthorized access to a
protected computer in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1030(a)(4) and
one count of reckless damage to a protected computer in violation 18
U.S.C. § 1030(a)(5). According to the indictment, Mr.
Chavet, a former employee of Alta Vista, unlawfully accessed Alta
Vista's computer system in March 2002 to obtain computer source code
belonging to Alta Vista. The indictment also alleges that
Chavet unlawfully accessed Alta Vista's computer system again in
June 2002 and, in doing so, caused damages in excess of $5,000 to
that computer system.

Mr. Chavet appeared in a proceeding this afternoon before a
United States Magistrate Judge in Seattle and was released on a
$10,000 bond. Mr. Chavet is scheduled to make his initial
appearance before a United States Magistrate Judge in San Francisco
on July 20, 2004, at 9:30 a.m. to be arraigned on the
indictment.

The maximum statutory penalty for each count in the indictment is
five years imprisonment and a fine of $250,000, plus restitution if
appropriate. However, any sentence following conviction would
be dictated by the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into
account a number of factors, and would be imposed in the discretion
of the Court. An indictment simply contains allegations
against an individual and, as with all defendants, Mr. Chavet must
be presumed innocent unless and until convicted.

The prosecution is being overseen by the Computer Hacking and
Intellectual Property (CHIP) Unit of the United States Attorney's
Office and is the result of an investigation by agents of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation. Kyle F. Waldinger is the
Assistant U.S. Attorney in the CHIP Unit who is prosecuting the
case.

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's
Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/index.html. Related court
documents and information may be found on the District Court website
at www.cand.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.cand.uscourts.gov.